


Out of This World

by EvenescentTranquility



Series: One Piece Soulmate One Shots! [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Piece
Genre: Ace Lives, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Sorry Not Sorry, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-14 07:07:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvenescentTranquility/pseuds/EvenescentTranquility
Summary: Her words meant she strove to always be "a brave little spitfire" while Shanks just wondered who the hell "Sirius" was and if he should be jealous.Meanwhile the existence of soulmates and Iris Potter's move to the One Piece world send out ripples that ensure nothing in that world will ever be the same.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the start of a collection of One Piece Soulmate AUs that were supposed to be One Shots, unfortunately my brain was like nope, nope, nope, and so many of them will probably end up as multi-chaptered fics, because my plot bunnies tend to cling and refuse to let go. Some will still be One Shots, but this one definitely won't be!

Don’t get involved, keep your head down and don’t get involved. She repeated the words like a mantra to herself as she pasted a pleasant smile on her face and served the customers at the bar she’d been working at for almost three months now.

It had been nearly five years since she’d landed in this strange world of Oceans, Pirates and Marines, nearly five years since she’d gone from being Iris Jesse Potter Girl-Who-Lived and Woman-who- Conquered to just plain Iris the way she’d always wanted.

She liked to think she was finally settling in nicely. Sure this world had its quirks, like snails for telephones, fishmen and mermaids and all sorts of interesting humanoids, and people with personalities so big and strange that sometimes she was left completely wrong footed but she had always been adaptable.

The funny thing was that the hardest part of coming to this new world wasn’t its’ strangeness or its dangers, but trying to remain just Iris and not accidentally doing something that would catapult her into the spotlight once more. It was a combination of her Gryffindor nature that Hermione had always called her ‘saving people thing’, her inability to keep her mouth closed when she saw injustice being done to someone and her magical abilities of which there were none in this world.

She’d discovered a month into her stay here that there was no magic in this world at all, but something entirely different that the people who knew about it called Haki, and strange fruits that gave even stranger powers. 

She’d been lucky that she’d landed in a part of this dimension that everyone in it called “The New World” where things like her magic were passed off as Haki or Devil fruit powers otherwise she probably would’ve been discovered and hauled before the government for questioning that or been hunted down by pirates wanting to use her powers themselves within the first week of her stay here.

So far it had only really been a combination of the gratuitous use of Legilimency and Confundus charms that had allowed her to remain undetected and under the radar. Well, that and traveling from island to island when things started looking iffy with the local population.

She’d quickly learned that Devil Fruits only gave the user one real power, and while that power could be versatile, doing things like apparating and wielding lightning at the same time were unheard of in a single Devil Fruit user and likely to put her under heavy suspicion and shifting into her Animagus form was completely out of the question. Through trial and error she’d finally resigned herself to not using magic at all outside the privacy of her home wherever she was living and only if it was under heavy wards to keep nosy neighbors out. The only exception was the occasional Legilimency scan on the people around her to help her better fit in.

Learning that hadn’t been fun, and she’d left a lot of Confunded people in her wake those first couple of months. What had been fun was the travel, getting to see new people and places all the time and having all sorts of adventures in this strange world where islands sometimes rained lightning or defied gravity or contained man eating plants or strange fantastic creatures.

This new world had made her feel like that first trip to Diagon Alley all those years ago had, filling her with wonder, joy, and a sense of adventure. Unlike Diagon Alley though she wasn’t nearly as naïve or trusting, and she was more cautious than she had ever been back in her home world.

Still she’d had a lot of fun. She was a lot more experienced nowadays and a damn good fighter if she did say so herself. Moody had been damn proud of her training, that he’d taken over during her fifth year, calling her a prodigy and the best he’d ever taught. It helped that she had literally been born Voldemort’s magical equal, her core containing just as much if not more magic than his naturally while he’d gone through several dark and disturbing rituals to obtain his. It was no surprise then that she’d picked up wandless magic easily once someone finally started teaching her, and that her godfather had managed to sneak lessons into becoming an Animagus in, which had increased her senses and her physical toughness hadn’t hurt either. 

With Moony supplying lessons on various physical i.e. muggle, fighting techniques he’d picked up from third year onwards it was really no surprise she’d become a veritable powerhouse. And that was before she’d accidentally absorbed the Hallows right after her final confrontation with Voldemort after obtaining the Death Stick from him.

She wasn’t sure about the Hallows being from Death’s own hands, but what she did know was that owning them all at the same time had caused them to disintegrate the first time she’d brought them all together and the magic had somehow been sucked into her body, leaving behind no trace of their presence except their symbol on her left palm, which she covered with a glove.

They had boosted her core even further pushing her far past the limits of normal witches and wizards, so far past in fact that it had been nearly impossible for her to control, and certainly not with a wand. In fact the first time she’d tried her old reliable Phoenix and Holly wand it had been blown to bits.

She’d been practically hysterical for a while until sensible Hermione had pulled her out of it, and insisted she train up her abilities so she wouldn’t hurt herself or others. Thus her fame had increased even more until she’d been practically deified, held up with the likes of Merlin, Circe, Morgana and the Founders Four.

She’d been appalled, horrified and afraid, especially since she knew how likely it was they’d turn on her the second something went wrong, and so she’d fled, taking all her worldly possessions and wealth, which turned out to be quite a bit, and escaped to a world where no one knew her name.

With that kind of power at her disposal though the Grand Line wasn’t all too dangerous for her. Oh sure it was still pretty dangerous, she’d certainly still die if she was careless, reckless or stupid, and she certainly had no plans to take on any of the Navy Admirals, New World Yonkos or Schichibukai, but dangers that sent weaker pirates running she was usually able to just brush off.

As exciting and sometimes hair raising as exploring the Grand Line was after a while it started to get pretty lonely. Sure she met and interacted with people, but it was nothing like the close friendship and companionship she’d shared with some of her fellow students at Hogwarts, before they’d either died, drifted away from her, or turned their backs on her entirely.

It wasn’t her fault the war hadn’t ended sooner, she’d done the best she could with what little she was given. Unfortunately it had taken her a long time to realize that, and during that time those still close had begun to drift away, building their lives with family or their soul mates, of which she had neither. Another of her many reasons for leaving as she had.

At the thought her hand absently brushed against the words that were covered at the moment by her long sleeves. They started at the top of her right arm and spiraled around it in a mess of squiggles to the crook of her elbow. It had taken some contortions to see the first time, but she’d been reading them for as long as she could remember, and had them memorized by now. She played the words she’d learnt over and over in her mind waiting to meet them and doing her best to live up to them. After all her soul mate thought she was “a brave little spitfire” and who was she to prove him wrong?

Still though it had been so long, most of her classmates had found their soul mates in school and if not then, then fairly soon afterwards. She’d been considered more than a bit odd at age twenty when she left that world using a ritual from the Black family library to escape the loneliness and restrictions being placed on a pedestal had brought her. Now at twenty-five she’d practically be an old maid in their eyes.

Surprisingly in this new dimension it was one of the few things that had stayed the same. She’d half wondered if they might not have soul mates at all here, but they did, and they found them in the same way, through the first words exchanged between them, though in this world at least, her not finding her soul mate wasn’t considered all that odd. Now if she ever reached forty here, then people might start looking at her oddly, but for now those that had inquired and heard she hadn’t met them yet simply patted her on the arm and told her to be patient.

She didn’t bother telling them that she’d given up the idea of finding her soul mate when she traveled to this dimension, figuring she’d left them behind. She tried not to let that bother her though because really she was done living her life to the expectations of others including her soul mate, which was why she was keeping her metaphorical head down, even though the action was making her teeth grind in frustration and anger.

The island she’d settled on, once she’d decided to stop island hopping and maybe settle for a while and perhaps find some friends to ease her aching loneliness, was a small one, with only three villages. She currently resided in the largest one, their port town, which was famous for its scotch.

For the first few weeks it had been fine, peaceful and friendly, but then the pirates had come. From her solo exploration of the Grand Line she’d learned a lot about pirates and marines despite staying well out of their way as best she could. She knew there were some good and some bad. Unfortunately these were definitely the bad kind.

New World pirates, unlike the pirates in the first half of the Grand Line, were as a whole extremely strong compared to others, admittedly the residents of the New World were pretty hardy themselves but not enough to stand up to these pirates. And the Navy didn’t have a very strong presence here in the New World so they couldn’t call for help. The usual course of action would generally be to call one of the Yonko as most of the islands they considered part of their “territory” and they would defend them, especially from other pirates if needed. Unfortunately this particular island was on the border between Big Mom and Shanks’ territories making it neutral ground.

While this made it a rather peaceful place and more prosperous than most since they didn’t have to pay tribute to either Yonko, it also meant that the island didn’t have any means of contacting either of the emperors for help leaving them to attempt to deal with the pirate menace on their own.

Luckily it seemed for the most part they only wanted tribute from the villagers and while it did make purses a little bit tighter nobody had been badly injured yet. Unfortunately she did believe it was a yet, as a server at a bar she’d gotten to see a good majority of the pirates for herself, and worse been subject of their attentions.

She knew her body was extremely curvy, mostly because her early childhood malnutrition had stunted her growth, and then when she’d gotten healthy again, it had been too late to grow leaving her natural curves on a much more petite frame, but for the most part the eerie color of her eyes and the lightning scar across her face that had made her famous in her old world was more than enough to put men off.

Not these men though. These men saw her petite curvy stature and her forcedly polite smile and thought it was an invitation, despite how many times she said she wasn’t interested.

The pirates were rude, crude and had begun to smack people around, pushing them out of the way intimidating and threatening the locals with violence to get things at cheaper prices. They were thugs and scum, and she knew someday very soon they were going to push too far and someone was going to get badly hurt.

Luckily today was almost over and she would be able to go home soon, take a nice relaxing bath, maybe drink some wine and not have to deal with them until morning, safe behind the impenetrable layers of wards that shielded her home against those with negative intentions.

She was wiping down her last table, pointedly ignoring the pirates at a table in the corner who were leering at her when the door burst open with a bang that shook the small bar. Immediately all attention was on the newcomer, a merchant from the town named Zeel who sold odds and ends in his little second hand shop. He ignored the other patrons his frantic eyes finding that of her fellow server, who was just about to take over for her, a kind, friendly young woman named Tana who Iris had somewhat befriended, who’d shown her the ropes of the town and welcomed her with open arms.

“Tana, the pirates have Ko, they say they’re going to kill him,” Zeel practically shouted to the room, his eyes wild with fear and desperation.

Tana froze and turned white under her summer tan, “K-Kill him? But why? We haven’t done anything wrong! We paid all their tribute already this month.”

“The kids were playing down by the docks as usual, when the pirates came through knocking them out of the way, one of the littler ones got trodden on, hand broken badly, and little Wren took issue with it, hitting the one responsible with the sticks they were playing with and shouting at him. He hit her back, knocked her hard, and Ko stepped in of course and things escalated and now they say they’re going to execute him to make an example!” Zeel babbled out hysterically.

Tana swayed on her feet for a moment, pure horror on her face before bolting for the door. Iris couldn’t blame her, Wren was her daughter, just turned eight, adorable, quick-witted and fiercely loyal it didn’t surprise her at all that the little girl had stood up when one of her friends was hurt. Ko was her husband of ten years and her soul mate, the two had met when they were fourteen and had been love at first sight. They’d gotten married the day Tana turned eighteen and had Wren a year later. They loved each other fiercely with the kind of relationship that Iris had always wanted for herself. She’d been a bit envious of her new friend for that, knowing she would likely never have it.

She couldn’t imagine losing that, she couldn’t imagine Tana without Ko, and she certainly couldn’t bear the thought of anyone hurting innocent little Wren who was sweet and charming and had taken to following her around sometimes as she did her shopping, pestering her for tales of adventures after she’d told her one of her own one day in the bar on a slow day to keep the child entertained while her mother worked.

It seemed the day she’d been dreading had already come, and her feet were moving before she even thought it through and she found herself running hard towards the commotion. It was pretty easy to find, it seemed the pirates had decided to make spectacle of Ko and were using the town square to do it.

She elbowed her way through the horrified crowd and winced in horror as she caught sight of him. Sure she’d seen worse during the war and after, but it had been a while and Ko was something of a friend as well. A regular at the bar where Tana worked, coming every day after he got off the fishing boats, often nursing a glass, or munching something from the kitchen, talking to everyone or telling stories to Wren, chatting away and sending fond looks at his wife and child.

He was a good man, and he certainly didn’t deserve this, a face so swollen, beaten black and blue that he was barely recognizable, only on his feet thanks to the post he was tied to, legs at awkward angles and blood dripping everywhere. It was brutal, far more brutal than anything any of these townspeople had likely seen, and certainly more than poor Wren had ever seen, as she clutched her mother’s skirt terrified and sobbing as Tana herself begged the pirates and the Captain to stop, promising more money, her body, everything she owned, but please…

It was enough to break anyone’s heart and certainly more than enough to shove her firmly over the line she’d been teetering on since the pirates arrived in the small town.

Shoving her way into the open space that separated the pirates from the watching crowd, striding forward confidently and catching everyone’s attention, “Enough.”

It wasn’t said loudly, but with a weight in it she’d learned after countless skirmishes with death eaters while leading her team of aurors, a tone meant to make them obey no matter how much they thought they knew better than their youngest member.

It was enough to silence everything, the jeering pirates, the whispering crowd, and the begging Tana, all of whom turned to look at her with a mixture, of shock, horror, confusion, and disgust.

“What was that little girl?” the Captain asked flatly his black eyes boring into hers brow twitching in annoyance. She’d only seen him a couple of times, but what she saw forcibly reminded her of Lucius Malfoy, pompous arrogant, and cold with a look in his eyes that let everyone who could interpret and recognize it know he’d killed and tortured without remorse.

“I said that’s enough,” she repeated calmly, one hand resting at her side and the other propped on her hip, her stance relaxed but ready, “I think it’s time you took your crew and left little man.”

She jabbed back at him, okay so she was a little sensitive about her height so sue her, and she wasn’t at all surprised when the scumbag threw his head back and laughed at her. After all these years she was pretty used to that reaction, garnered by everything from her age to her stature to her gender.

“Little girl you’re either very brave or very stupid,” the Captain informed her a cold smirk on his face, “Don’t you know who I am?”

“How could I not?” she asked rolling her eyes at him her tone intentionally provoking, “What with you and your men shouting it from the rooftops like it’s something to be proud of. Understandable though I suppose, since no one would’ve recognized a small time loser like you if they hadn’t.”

“How impertinent, little girl I think you need to be taught some manners,” he informed her silkily taking a threatening step towards her.

She was going to reply with something to the effect of ‘bring it on’ when rough hands grabbed her from behind hard enough to bruise. She immediately called herself a thousand kinds of idiot as Moody’s angry yell of “Constant Vigilance” echoed through her mind. She’d assumed everyone including the pirates had either gone into hiding or were in the town square when she arrived considering the commotion. A quick glance behind her showed her it was the pirates who’d been in the bar who’d probably been behind her the whole time who’d sneaked up and grabbed her. It was what she got for being so overconfident; forgetting those years of racing through dangerous wild islands was nothing like facing off against conniving humans.

“Shall we take care of this one Cap? Been wanting to teach her a lesson myself, stubborn little cock tease that she is,” the one who grabbed her asked his breath near her face reeking of alcohol and sweat, apparently he wasn’t much bothered by personal hygiene.

The Captain smiled coldly at them mocking eyes on her, making her temper, which was already close to the surface begin to boil, “Do as you like with her, make an example of her as well, I believe I have another offer to indulge.”

He turned back towards Tana whose wide frightened eyes still held a well of determination even as she pushed Wren back behind her, away from the pirate, and Iris opened her mouth again using a tone she’d borrowed from the great Ferret himself, one that always got her steaming mad, “So you can’t even deal with me yourself? Guess I’d put up too much of a fight for a small time pirate like you, or is it that you’re small time all over?”

The captain whirled back towards her, ice in his eyes even as a sharp pain made her realize her captor had released an arm and grabbed a knife jabbing it into her side, not enough to impale but enough to draw blood, “Now you really shouldn’t be speakin to the Cap that way darlin’ that’s no way to speak to a man.”

“What man?” she asked giving the captain a pointed once over even as he stalked forward fury etched across his face, “I don’t see any man.”

The slap wasn’t unexpected, even if it was hard enough to make her ears ring. It had accomplished what she wanted though, he was now away from Tana and close enough to attack without showing off her magic. She shook her head to clear it and make her ears stop ringing only to hear silence. She’d kind of expected him to be ranting at her, but when she looked up she saw he was looking elsewhere across the square.

Standing there was a group of men she’d never seen before. Their leader had the brightest red hair she’d ever seen, the crimson more like blood than like the Weasley’s red-orange manes. He was wearing a dark cloak over his shoulders and a white long sleeved button down shirt that was left mostly open showing a nicely sculpted chest, and loose brown pants. He wore some kind of sword at his hip thrust through a bright red sash. His dark eyes were fixed on the captain holding her hostage and at his back several intimidating looking men with all kinds of weaponry stood eyeing the pirates that had invaded the town casually.

“What did you say to me?” the Captain asked his attention entirely focused on the newcomer.

“I said that’s really no way to treat a lady,” the redheaded man replied with a deceptively cheerful smile on his face, “You should really get your hearing checked you know, oh and never stand too close to cannons, causes hearing loss.”

“The way I treat women is really none of your business Akagami no Shanks, and the bitch has it coming, but it’s surprising to see you here,” the Captain said leadingly.

Iris glanced at the newcomer again in surprise, so this was Shanks? One of the four Yonko? She’d heard rumors about him, but never really bothered to look him up. Knowing she was going to be avoiding pirates meant she’d never really given him much thought. She wasn’t sure what she thought, but she knew a person wasn’t given the title of Yonko lightly.

“Ah you see our ship was running low on booze and we were in the area. This place sells Benn’s favorite Scotch so we figured we’d swing by and get some,” the man, Shanks, explained with a casual shrug and a beaming smile.

“All the better for me,” the Captain replied a wide slightly psychotic smile on his face, “You know I thought we’d have to hunt you down after we bled this little Podunk town dry, instead you came straight to us.”

“Ah looking to challenge a Yonko huh? Well I haven’t had a good fight for a while I suppose I could indulge you,” the man replied casually shrugging out of his black cloak and tossing it at the taller black haired man standing to his right, “Here Benn hold this for a moment would you? Don’t want to get blood on the brand new cape.”

The dark haired man, who had a cigarette dangling from his lips gave his Captain a flat look but accepted the garment, “Whatever just don’t take too long, you know the crew gets antsy when the booze gets low and I’ve been looking forward to a glass of that scotch myself.”

“Sure, sure,” Shanks assured him casually turning back around to face his opponent.

The man stared at the famed Yonko before a sneer overtook his face, “Really? And I thought this was going to be hard, didn’t know I’d be fighting a crip…gah.”

His rant was cut short as his attention came back to Iris, who’d taken advantage of the pirate’s preoccupation with the Yonko and his crew to spring into action, stomping hard on the instep of her captor making him loosen his grip, and using a special twist Mooney had taught her to take the knife from him and break his wrist simultaneously, then buried the knife in the distracted Captain’s gut shoving it in and yanking upwards, slicing through vital organs before shoving him off the knife with her foot, using the momentum to swing herself around and slice at the man behind her who’d held her captive digging a deep gash across his chest. Ignoring the spray of blood as it spattered everywhere from using a knife in such close quarters.

The man yelled out in surprise and pain before lunging at her. She ducked under his lunge lashing out with the knife again and catching him in the side as he went past, and suddenly she was surrounded by pirates, with weapons all looking to kill her. She dropped into what Moody had called battle mode.

Using her enhanced senses, tasting vibrations in the air as the men moved around her, listening for the sound of their feet, the whoosh of their blades and their sharp breaths as she danced in and around them the knife in her hand quickly joined by a small, dirk that she wielded with practiced ease.

And suddenly she wasn’t alone in her fight but joined by men she recognized who’d been standing behind the Yonko Shanks. They kept out of her way, and at the same time guarded her back, much to her surprise. In a few short minutes the pirates who’d invaded lay dead, and she slowly stood up from her crouch eyeing the pirates around her.

The other townsfolk had apparently fled, all but Tana and Wren, who were huddled close to the post Ko was tied to, Tana pushing Wren’s face into her apron attempting to shield her from the mass carnage her eyes wide and terrified.

“That was either the bravest of the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” a man with blonde dreadlocks held back by a band that read Yassop and two pistols in his hands told her a grin on his face.

She raised an eyebrow at him then shrugged, “I’ve done worse.”

He gaped at her for a moment the grinned wider, whatever he was about to say next though was interrupted by the tall dark haired man with the cigarette in his mouth, who hadn’t moved from where he stood, it appeared he and several others, including the Yonko himself hadn’t actually joined in the fight.

“You know it’s rude to take out the man the Captain’s called dibs on,” he drawled, his voice nonthreatening, just pointing out facts, his eyes assessing her face.

“Tch,” she scoffed bending over to wipe her blades clean on the shirt of one of the dead pirates, casually giving him her back as she inspected them and decided to keep the one she’d stolen from the man who’d held her captive, it was good quality, and discarding the other as trash, before turning back to him, “Considering it was me he slapped I’m pretty sure I’m the one who had dibs.”

“Dahaha! You’re a brave little spitfire aren’t you little lady?” the redheaded Yonko asked, and her entire world froze as she slowly turned to look at him again.

He’d moved a couple steps closer, and she could see his features better now, besides the blood red hair the most prominent one was his dancing cinnamon colored eyes, despite the three scars that raked directly over them. His face was strong, with a wide forehead and pointed nose, bright white teeth that flashed in a cheerful smile and a bit of scruff over his lip and on his cheeks and chin. His skin was tanned and a bit weather beaten, combined with the clothes and the cloak she dazedly thought he really did look like a stereotypical scruffy pirate captain, all he was missing was a hat and a parrot.

She felt a little light headed and confused, because she’d really truly never expected to hear those words, she’d given up on them. Had maybe even given up on them before she even came to this world because she’d been raised to be Dumbledore’s martyr, and yet here she was, and here he was and all she could think to say was, “Sirius always did say you’d probably be a redhead, don’t think he was expecting a pirate though.”

…~*O*~…

The day had started off well enough for Shanks, true they were much lower on booze than he liked to be at any given time, but the navigator had assured them they were close to an island. An island that apparently sold Benn’s favorite Scotch, the only kind of alcohol his first mate indulged in and then only rarely, downer that he was.

He was kind of hoping the booze would get Benn off his back for a bit. Not that Benn wasn’t awesome, he was, he was his best friend, but he’d also turned into a bit of a mother hen after the Sea king ate his arm while he was out saving Luffy. Not that he regretted that, not a bit, he’d do it again if he had to, would lose both arms if it meant saving Luffy. Still ever since his first mate, actually his whole crew, had been extremely overprotective.

He couldn’t blame them of course, losing a limb was a big deal and he was touched by their concern, but what’s done is done. He was just grateful it had been his left arm that was lost and not the right. Most would assume that was because he was right handed, but you know what they say about assuming and asses.

Shanks was in fact ambidextrous, or at least he had been. It had been something of an ace in the hole for him all these years as the only one he’d met who’d lived after finding that information out was Hawkeye and it wasn’t like he was about to tell anyone, antisocial loner that he was.

No the reason he’d been grateful to lose the left was because his right carried the words of the person he’d been waiting to meet for the last twenty or so years of his life. They started at the shoulder and spiraled down around his arm ending at his elbow and read “Sirius always did say you’d be a redhead, don’t think he was expecting a pirate though,” in a barely legible scrawl.

He’d spent a lot of time pondering what kind of woman would say his words to him, and he was sure it was a woman though for the life of him he couldn’t tell you how. He wondered who the hell Sirius was and if maybe he should be jealous, and how he’d known what color his hair was. He’d also wondered how she figured out he was a pirate, as he liked to think he didn’t behave like a stereotypical one, but then his fame had risen exponentially in the last few years and he now had a good idea.

He wondered what she looked like, short, tall, skinny, curvy, redheaded, blonde, brunette or even something more exotic? He’d had a lot of daydreams, but never really anything concrete. The only thing he was sure of was that she’d have to be fiery, because a stubborn fiery personality was what it would take to keep him interested and in line as it were.

The arrival at their destination shook him out of his thoughts and he happily jumped over the side of the ship and on to the dock, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. A soft thump behind him alerted him to another presence and he grinned over at Benn who was giving him a disapproving look, “You could wait for us you know.”

But Shanks was completely ignoring him, glancing around the dock he noticed an eerie stillness. Docks were usually pretty bustling places especially this time of day when fisherman were returning and the sun was setting. The empty docks coupled with lack of people sent an intense shock of déjà vu through him, it was exactly like Fuusha when Luffy was being held captive by bandits.

Instinct had him striding forward towards the center of town with nary a word to his crew. He could hear Benn asking questions then shouting orders behind him, and knew they’d follow very quickly. Using his observation haki it wasn’t hard to find the source of the empty docks.

A gathering was happening in what looked like the town square. He arrived through a small back alley and took in the scene. Tied to a decorative post near the center of the square was a man who looked so beat he was nearly dead, and with a woman and child standing close by staring at something in the center of the crowd, looks of terror and awe on their faces.

Luckily people tended to move out of the way once they noticed he wanted through, either recognizing him from his bounty posters or responding to the menacing aura he knew he was giving off thanks to the familiar feel of the scene. He could hear a female voice bantering with a low male one, and he grinned in spite of himself, she apparently really knew how to upset the guy.

He finally made it to the front of the crowd just as a loud smack echoed throughout the square. Taking in the scene he noticed a group of dirty men, who looked the stereotypical ragtag pirate scum, at the center. One of which, the biggest and ugliest was holding a small woman.

She was the one who’d been hit, judging by the way her head was turned to the side and the bright angry mark on her face. Fury raced through him as the image of an even smaller boy was superimposed over the woman and he couldn’t help himself, he intervened.

He handed off his coat to Benn acknowledging his presence and prepared to slaughter the scumbags. He wasn’t at all surprised the captain thought it would be easy. It was a reaction he knew he’d have to deal with for a while until he proved to the world he could still be a Yonko one armed. That didn’t mean it didn’t sting a little.

What did surprise him was the tiny little woman gutting the man like a fish. He watched in shock as the woman he’d thought of as helpless like Luffy tore through New World pirates with practiced ease. His own men, not wanting to stand around and do nothing, quickly joined in, but he couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes off the small woman reaping bloody carnage.

“That’s certainly impressive,” Benn told him quietly, as the last of the pirate thugs were finished off and the woman stood not even breathing heavily with nary a scratch on her. Shanks nodded intrigued, not at all surprised that Benn had stayed at his side, watching his back.

He was even more impressed with the way she bantered back and forth with Benn and Yassop completely unafraid of them despite knowing how dangerous they must be. She didn’t feel threatened at all, not even when Benn’s words could’ve been construed as threatening. She was such a fiery little thing, he couldn’t help himself, he laughed, “You’re a brave little spitfire aren’t you?”

He was surprised to see the woman stiffen, the first sign of unease she’d shown before turning to look at him head on. She looked dazed, her features shocked as she gave him an obvious once over, and he wondered quietly if she too was off put by the lack of his arm like the pirate captain had been until she opened her mouth and said the words he’d been waiting to hear, “Sirius always did say you’d be a redhead, don’t think he was expecting a pirate though.”

Oh, oh, no wonder she was gaping like a fish. His mind went blank as he took several hesitant steps toward her and catalogued her features. He’d noted she was short, she’d likely fit just under his chin, but her curves were extraordinarily generous, the perfect hourglass. She had a dark head of riotous waves and curls that hung to her waist framing a small delicate looking face covered in porcelain skin.

Her eyes were the most riveting shade of green he’d ever seen, so much so that it took him a minute to see past them and to the scar that covered the entirety of her face, from sloped forehead to pouty coral lips. It was like a bolt of lightning had come down and left an impression of itself across her face, with tiny wispy strikes giving her skin an interesting texture.

Maybe for some it might’ve been off-putting, but Shanks found it beautiful. He’d always loved the wild freedom of storms, and her scar reminded him of war paint. She was a vicious little green eyed lightning goddess.

His shaky steps brought him with reach of her and a hand extended towards her for a second before coming back to his side as he realized he only had one arm to reach for her with, and he wasn’t sure if she’d like that.

Iris saw his belated attempt to reach her, and picked up the spasm of uncertainty that had crossed his face. She wasn’t the type of person who could reach out to others easily despite being affection starved, both aftereffects of the Dursley’s upbringing. This was different though, this was her soulmate the one person in the world that was meant only for her, the one person she thought she’d never meet, the one person whose existence meant that throughout her years in her world despite everything she never felt truly alone.

She took the last step forward and wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened for a moment, and she wondered if she’d read him wrong only to feel him relax a second later and wrap his arm around her in return, holding her nearly too tightly.

Not quite her normal, logical self she tilted her head up and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. He smelled good, like sandalwood, sea, cigarette smoke and something entirely masculine and entirely him. With the way he was holding them so tightly together she could feel every dip of chiseled muscle beneath his shirt.

She felt strange in his grasp, and it took her a good long while to identify the feeling. She felt safe with him, how strange. She’d never felt safe before, at least not completely, not like this. A part of her wanted to rebel, having a soul mate shouldn’t make her like this, shouldn’t change her into someone who trusted so easily, her self-preservation instincts were practically screaming at her calling her ten kinds of fool. 

However she had always been a risk taker, it was the reason she was a Gryffindor instead of a Slytherin despite having the traits of both, and that part followed her gut, which told her if she wasn’t safe with her soul mate then there was no place in the world she could be safe.

Shanks was surprised that she’d reached for him back, that she’d taken that last step of her own freewill and was willing to hold him like this. He’d been right in his assessment earlier, she was just tall enough to tuck under his chin when he held her, the perfect height.

Despite seeing her fight earlier, knowing she was extremely dangerous and capable she still felt fragile and small in his grasp and his hold unconsciously tightened. He’d been waiting for this, for so long he’d been waiting, and now he had her he wasn’t about to let her go.

A clearing throat had both of them pulling back to see all the crew watching them with either curious or amused looks on their faces, “Dahaha sorry guess we got caught up crew! Meet soul mate, uh, er, um, what’s your name miss?”

“Iris, Potter J. Iris,” she told him feeling uncharacteristically shy .

“Iris!” he repeated joyfully, saying the name slowly in his mind, savoring it before turning to his crew, “Crew this is Iris, Iris this is crew!”

“Shanks you have to give the girl more than that,” Benn told his captain exasperated even as he studied the shell shocked woman, apparently a Yonko and his crew didn’t even phase her, but finding her soulmate certainly had. Not that he could blame her, it certainly wasn’t something one experienced often, especially not with someone like Shanks.

Luckily she proved before she’d spoken to the captain that she had plenty of spunk otherwise Benn would’ve been concerned Shanks would steamroller right over her. He may have been his captain and best friend but Benn knew better than anyone that Shanks could be a bit much. He just hoped she didn’t let him get away with too much.

The fact that she was welcome wasn’t even a question. She was the captain’s soul mate, and he knew Shanks was more anxious than most to meet his. Of course he too had seen the captain’s atypical moment of self-doubt, and was gratified she’d rectified it, comforting Shanks seemingly without even thinking about it, for that alone even if she’d been a spineless fool he would’ve welcomed her.

“I’m Benn, Beckman the first mate, the guy with the blonde dreads is Yassop, the one with the meat in hand is Lucky Roo, the redhead to my left is Rockstar, the man with the Monkey is Meaka, the blonde is out Doctor whose name is pretty much unpronounceable so we call him Doc, and the man with the dragon tattoo is Cookie,”  
he told her pointing to each in turn, “The others are on the ship, we can introduce them later.”

Gathering herself Iris bowed politely to them, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, please take care of me.”

A soft groan and a gasp from behind had the pirates and Iris redirecting their attention to the civilians still in the square. It seemed Ko had awoken and caught Tana’s attention, and she turned to worriedly fuss over him, looking frantic, and who could blame her, the man looked terrible.

Iris quickly strode forward distracted from her soul mate and taking charge, “Tana, Ko needs a doctor, we’ll need to find him one, I know you want to take him down from there, but shifting might cause any floating ribs to puncture something.”

Tana glanced at her and nodded, hurriedly gathering herself only to be interrupted, “Doc can take a look if you ladies don’t mind.”

It seemed her soul mate had stepped in to save the day once more. Iris glanced at Tana, “It’s your choice Tana, but my advice is to let him. I really doubt the doctor in town has experience with these kinds of injuries and it wouldn’t surprise me if a pirate doctor saw them daily.”

The tough civilian woman bit her lip, but steeled herself and turned to the pirates, she’d begged before for Ko’s life from the evil pirates, asking these new ones to save it wasn’t so different, and so she bowed low, “Please help us.”

“No need for that ma’am,” the one called Doc told her, his voice was gruff but his tone was gentle, “Let me see what I can do. Might want to get the little one away though, just in case.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Wren shouted, apparently finding her courage in the face of these fierce looking strangers, “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t provoked them, if he hadn’t hit me, daddy would still, would still…”

She trailed off looking ready to burst into tears. Tana looked torn obviously wanting to stay with her husband, but not wanting her daughter to see and know the extent of his injuries. 

“I’ve got it Tana,” Iris muttered quietly to her friend who nodded grateful.

So saying she scooped up the eight-year-old and slung her over her shoulder. The girl was shocked, but then began to try to protest, tears spilling over as she kicked and flailed in Iris’ firm grasp.

“Enough Wren-wren, we’re not going far, just over there into the alley so you can still be close by, you and I need to chat little birdie,” Iris told her firmly. The girl stilled at the firm tone and went limp sobbing into Iris’ back.

“Can I borrow a couple of you for a moment? She’s eight, she really doesn’t need to see or hear anything more today,” Iris asked the pirates.

The one called Yassop and Shanks immediately agreed and blocked the end of the alley so Wren couldn’t see the doctor operating on her father.

“Thank you,” she told them gently depositing her burden on the ground so her back was to the men and the scene of the bloody massacre, receiving two solemn nods in return.

She set a firm hand on the girl’s small shoulders and using the other to tilt her chin up so she was forced to look her in the eye, “You need to listen to me Wren, are you listening?”

The child nodded, tears and snot dribbling down her face in rivers but her eyes firmly locked on Iris’ face, “None of what happened today was your fault.”

“But I did it! I hit the pirate and then daddy was fighting and he got hurt,” Wren told her miserably.

“You did hit the pirate, but that was because he hurt one of your friends first, or at least that’s what I heard…?” Iris trailed off expectantly.

“We were playing,” Wren explained wretchedly, “Me and Meeko and Shin, and Beena and some others, waiting for daddy and his friends to come back with fish and the Captain pushed us over he, stepped on us, and he broke Meeko’s hand! Meeko’s three!”

“So I hit him, I hit him with my stick to get him off Meeko because Meeko was crying and he wasn’t moving off his hand! He moved then but then he hit me! Right here,” she told the older woman rubbing her belly and wincing at the tenderness, “He hit it really hard and I flew back and hit a house and then he was coming towards me to hit me some more but then Daddy was there, he was hitting the Captain, shouting at him to pick on someone his own size.”

“The Captain shouted for his crew and they started hitting and kicking my daddy! I couldn’t stop them. I tried really hard, but then they were taking him away and then Momma was there and she was crying, and then you came and he hit you too and it’s all my fault!” the little girl wailed pitifully.

“Wren, you only hit that man because he was hurting Meeko right?” Iris confirmed gently, getting the girl to nod miserably.

“Then you did nothing wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to protect your friends. It sounds to me like you were very brave,” Iris assured her gently running a soothing hand through Wren’s hair.

“But if I hadn’t, then everyone would’ve been okay!” Wren protested sadly.

“That’s not true,” Iris rebuked immediately, “Meeko certainly still wouldn’t be okay, he might’ve even been hurt worse if you hadn’t intervened.”

Wren tried to protest again but Iris continued on firmly, “Listen to me Wren, there are people in this world who are awful, terrible human beings. People who like to hurt others, who think that it’s fun, or funny, who enjoy it. That man was one of them. He and the entirety of his scumbag crew were the kind of people who didn’t care for others at all. One way or another, from the moment he and the rest came here someone was going to get hurt, for one reason or another. Even if no one had done anything wrong, they would’ve found a reason to hurt someone.”

“If it wasn’t you and your daddy and Meeko today, it would’ve been some other child, some other daddy or mommy tomorrow. Do you understand?” Iris asked gently. 

“I know it’s hard to see it this way sweetie, but what happened today was probably for the best,” Iris continued as Wren hesitated, “Your daddy is probably really glad he was there today, he got to protect you, that’s a daddy’s job after all, to protect their children. If that man had hurt you, had killed you, both your mommy and daddy would’ve been devastated.”

“I bet if we asked him, despite how much he’s hurting your daddy would tell you he would do it again if he had to, see your daddy is one of the good ones, the ones that love their friends and family, both your parents would happily die for you, because that’s what good parents do,” Iris assured her.

“And if it hadn’t been your daddy who was hurt, no one would’ve come to get your mommy, and if no one had come to get your mommy I wouldn’t have known to come, and if I hadn’t come that man might’ve hurt you or your mommy,” Iris persisted.

“But then he hurt you instead!” Wren whimpered unhappily.

“And that’s okay, because unlike you, or your mommy and daddy I can take it. Weren’t you listening when I told you my stories? I’m a brave adventurer remember? Something like a little slap wasn’t going to slow me down, and frankly I was more than a match for those pirates little birdie I just needed the right motivation to take them down,” Iris told her gently.

“Did you fight them too Iris?” Wren asked.

“I did,” Iris confirmed with a gentle smile for the child, “I don’t like to fight if I don’t have to, but if someone hurts my friends of course I fight back to protect them. Hurting people for the sake of hurting people is never okay little birdie, but sometimes you have to hurt others to protect the people you love.”

“What you did today was protect the people you love, and that’s okay. I’m proud of you for it, and I’m sure your mommy and daddy are too even if they wish you would be more careful so you don’t get yourself hurt.”

Iris caught the little girl as she launched herself forward and wrapped her small body tightly around her, squeezing tightly sobbing into her shoulder. Iris rocked her, humming soothingly and running gentle hands through her hair until she sobbed herself out laying limply against her but clinging tightly nonetheless.

“How’s it going over there?” Iris asked glancing up at the two men who’d turned away to give her and the child the illusion of privacy.

“Not bad I don’t think,” Shanks told her solemnly turning back to look at her and offering a hesitant smile, “The Doc isn’t cursing as bad now, and it looks like things are stabilizing over there. I think your friend is going to be fine.”

“That’s good news,” she told them, climbing to her feet with Wren still wrapped securely in her arms.

“You were real good with the little ‘un,” Yassop told her with an admiring smile, “You ever thought about having some tykes of your own?”

Iris looked at him startled, but seeing the interested look on Shanks’ face decided frank honesty in this case was probably the best policy, “To be one hundred percent honest, I hadn’t ever really thought about it. I never thought I’d live long enough to meet my soul mate let alone have children.”

Seeing the striken looks on both their faces she hastily explained, “I’m not sick or anything, but I grew up in a really dangerous environment, there was a war and well, no one goes into war expecting to come out the other side unscathed.”

Both men nodded solemnly, though they looked incredibly concerned, which if she was honest with herself was more than a bit heartwarming. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had looked at her with concern for her wellbeing.

Luckily they didn’t have time to ask any questions that she wasn’t sure how to answer, as the Doc proclaimed surgery was over, and Ko was going to live. She moved out from behind the two men, still carrying Wren, to see they’d fashioned a stretcher for him, and Tana was going to direct them to her house.

She came along with them, listening as the doctor briefed Tana about the things she’d need to do to make sure Ko made a full recovery, asking the pertinent questions when it seemed Tana was either too intimidated or overwrought to do so.

The journey to their home was a quick one, and she followed the procession inside, taking the familiar route to Wren’s room, and depositing her bundle, who’d passed out from emotional exhaustion the minute she’d learned her dad was going to be okay, into the bed, gently removing her shoes and tucking her under the covers, pressing a light kiss to her forehead before heading out the door again.

She was stopped before she could leave by Tana who nearly bowled her over, hugging her tightly and thanking her over and over as she cried into her shoulder. Patiently Iris rocked the woman just like she had Wren and soothed her until she was calm again. She’d had a lot of practice during the war doing this for men, women and children alike and she liked to think she was damned good at it by now.

“So what are you going to do now?” Tana asked after blowing her nose into the spare handkerchief Iris had given her.

“What do you mean?” Iris asked evasively.

“You know what I mean,” Tana scolded her firmly, “Just because I was caught up in Ko and Wren doesn’t mean I didn’t see you find your soul mate. Do you think you’ll be leaving us then?”

“I don’t know,” Iris told her with a shrug, “I’d never put to much thought into what would happen if I found my soul mate, now that I have I’m at a bit of a loss. I mean I don’t know what I was expecting with the whole soul mate thing, but it certainly wasn’t a Yonko level pirate captain.”

“I suppose you’ll just have to sit him down and have a conversation with him,” Tana told her shrewdly, “That’s the best way, figure out what you both want out of the relationship and see if you can figure out a compromise you can both live with. That’s the key really, to a good relationship, or at least that’s what my mother told me, and it seemed to have worked well enough for Ko and I.”

“Sound advice I think,” Iris smiled at her, “Thank you for your help Tana, and your kindness.”

“Please, you saved our lives today, don’t think I don’t know it, this is the least of what I can do for you, besides I’m not actually too worried about you and your pirate captain, from what I could see before the two of you were getting on just fine, and if nothing else at least he’s easy on the eyes,” the cheerful woman told her with a lewd wink.

“Tana!” Iris protested with a laugh.

“What?” the woman teased lightly, “I have eyes, and I’m married not dead! Either way, I won’t keep you any longer, go get that pirate captain of yours, and Iris?”

“Yes?” she asked confused at Tana’s sudden serious expression.

“If you do decide to leave make sure you come say goodbye first and I want you to know you always have a place to come back to if things don’t go the way you want them to,” the other woman told her solemnly, “We may not have known each other very long, but I still think of you as a dear friend and want you to be happy no matter what form that happiness takes.”

“Thank you,” Iris told her impulsively leaning forward to hug her fellow waitress and receiving a tight squeeze in return, touched by Tana’s words and her sincerity, “It means a lot to me. I promise I’ll come see you again if I decide to go with him.”

“Good! Wren would be heartbroken if she didn’t get to say goodbye,” Tana told her firmly, “Now go out there and get your man!”

Iris laughed and allowed herself to be shooed out the door, to where Shanks, Yassop, Benn Beckman, and the one who’d been introduced as Lucky Roo stood waiting. The others having apparently gone off somewhere once they saw that Ko, Tana and Wren were settled.

“Do you have somewhere we could go to talk?” Shanks asked her, his eyes betraying the nerves they were both feeling about this upcoming conversation about their future, “If not we can go to the Red Force, I just thought maybe you’d like somewhere you’re more familiar with?”

“We can go to my home,” she told him her voice calm despite her sweaty palms, “If that’s alright with you?”

“Whatever makes you most comfortable,” he assured her a genuine smile on his face.

She couldn’t help smiling back at him, “Alright, home it is, follow me please.”

She turned and was more than a bit surprise to feel a large calloused hand intertwine itself with hers, jumping slightly at the contact. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the slightly hesitant expression on Shanks face melt away as she laced her fingers tightly with his.

Whatever the outcome of this conversation was, she was sure she could handle it. After all she was Iris Jesse Potter! And besides, the only thing she had been afraid of with her soul mate was that they might reject her. 

Shanks seemed to want her, and with any luck he wouldn’t mind her baggage or her powers. Considering he was a Yonko with an apparently newly missing arm, she was sure he came with some of his own, so she figured the odds were pretty good.

The sheer trust he offered her already, by allowing her to latch on to his only hand, and first means of defense meant that for the first time in a long time she was feeling pretty damn optimistic. For once it seemed like maybe fate might be in her favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the start of a collection of One Piece Soulmate AUs that were supposed to be One Shots, unfortunately my brain was like nope, nope, nope, and so many of them will probably end up as multi-chaptered fics, because my plot bunnies tend to cling and refuse to let go. Some will still be One Shots, but this one definitely won't be!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The second chapter at long last!

“Would you like anything to drink, water? Tea? Coffee? Something stronger?” she asked as the men and her soulmate settled into her living room. The space, which had seemed decently sized when she bought it, seemed small with the number of guests now crammed into it.

“A scotch for me, if you’ve got it,” the one called Benn Beckman requested, earning surprised looks from everyone including her soulmate.

“It’s not everyday the captain meets his soulmate after all. I’ve got the feeling I’m going to need it, and was promised scotch when it was first decided we’d come to this particular island,” he informed them pulling out a cigarette and pausing glancing at her.

She gestured for him to go for it, pleased he’d asked permission before lighting up in her home, “I’ve got some of the island’s scotch around here somewhere, a round for everyone then? I was actually thinking I might indulge in a glass of wine myself considering the day I’ve had.”

There were general murmurs of agreement from the other two, but then her soulmate piped up, “I think just water for me thanks.”

That earned even more incredulous looks than Benn’s request for Scotch, and even she was somewhat surprised. She may have never planned to meet the Yonko but she knew her bipolar luck had a way of throwing her into situations where a meeting might be inevitable and so had kept an ear out for information about them just in case. The one thing everyone agreed on about Akagami no Shanks, was that he loved to party and to drink. Thus even she knew his turning down her offer of alcohol was a big deal. So much so she actually paused in pouring her own glass of wine to look at him. 

He shrugged at their scrutiny, “Benny’s right, not everyday you meet your soulmate, and I drink pretty much every day so…”

He trailed off and shrugged again looking slightly uncomfortable. She softened, her lips quirking slightly with the beginnings of a smile before turning back to the drinks. She passed each man their glass and then leaned back against the counter of her kitchen, facing them all, swirling the wine in her hand casually.

“Well then,” she said into the slightly awkward silence that followed as they all took sips from their glasses wondering who was going to speak first, mustering up her Gryffindor Courage and deciding to throw caution to the wind, “It’s been said before but just in case my name is Iris Jesse Potter and I’m a witch.”

Her timing proved unfortunate in that the one she thought might’ve been called Lucky Roo had been taking a large swig of his drink and had proceeded to spit it out all over Yasopp who didn’t look remotely pleased to be on the receiving end of a Scotch shower.

“Before you ask, a witch or wizard if the person was male, is someone with an extra gift of sorts that we call magic, basically I have Devil Fruit Powers, several of them but I can still swim, no it’s not Haki, or at least I don’t think it is, and yes I can and will demonstrate,” she ploughed on, figuring it was best to get it all out there.

“When you say Devil Fruit Powers, what exactly do you mean?” Benn asked slowly, apparently the only one with enough of his wits recovered to speak.

“I mean I can transform into an animal like a zoan, it’s called an Animagus form, mine is a snake, more specifically a Banded Krait, however I can also wield elements like a logia, though my body doesn’t become the element like theirs does, among other things,” she told him with a shrug.

Seeing his skeptical look she offered her hands for inspection, and then began to bounce small sparks between her fingers, tossing it back and forth as it grew bigger. The men’s eyes were huge as she tossed a small lightning bolt between her hands casually the same way some might toss a ball or a knife. Clenching her hand she cut off the exercise, something she’d developed to help her learn control, and turned her concentration inwards.

Her body shrank down, limbs retreating into nothing as her body became long and serpentine. She raised herself from the ground, tongue flicking out to taste the air, as all of the men continued to gape. Eventually Shanks slid to the floor and offered her his hand.

She allowed him to touch her, amused and relieved at the awed look on his face. Apparently he didn’t have anything against snakes, back in her world she’d been forced to keep her Animagus form a secret, not even daring to register lest someone find out and label her ‘dark.’

Shifting back she nearly knocked into Shanks, who was still crouching to look at her. He reached out steadying them both, and he offered her a reassuring smile, “So a witch huh? Never actually met one of those, are there more like you somewhere?”

“There are,” she confirmed, “But unless something really strange happens you won’t ever meet them. From what I could tell our “island” was cut off from this place hundreds of thousands of years ago, for what reasons I don’t know, but the barrier between them is pretty much impenetrable. I was only able to slip through because I found out about a secret backdoor through the barrier, and I made sure to seal it firmly shut behind me. As far as I could tell, and I did look mind you, I’m the only one of my kind on this side of the barrier.”

“Why did you cross?” Yasopp asked curiously, as she and Shanks resettled themselves, her at the counter and him in his chair.

“Because I didn’t want to be on that side anymore. I told you earlier that I never expected to have children because I didn’t expect to live that long because of the war correct?” she asked, receiving a nod from both Shanks and Yasopp and surprised glances from Benn and Lucky Roo.

“Well since I’m alive we won, obviously but at a cost, as I suppose is natural with any war,” she told them with a bitter smile, “My friends and I were teenagers at the time, but we worked together and with the help of our classmates and a handful of adults overthrew a madman hoping to cleanse our side of the barrier of people he believed were inferior, that is to say people without magic along with those Magicals who’d been born to parents with no magic.”

“Now one would think, that there would be plenty of people to fight back against someone like this, but people with no magic aren’t allowed to know about those that have it, kind of the same way the Government has turned the idea of Devil Fruits into a myth for those outside the Grand Line and Haki into a myth for those outside the New World, only much more effectively, because neither side of this fight actually wanted the non Magicals to find out and the Government had the power to erase the memories of non magical people if they happened to see something they shouldn’t,” she explained unhappily.

“In some ways it was understandable no one wanted non magical people to know, because on our side of the barrier in days past they used to hunt and kill anyone even suspected of having magic, on the other hand hundreds of non Magicals died during the war and all the while none of them really had any clue as to why. The other side liked to make a sport out of it, they did terrible sick things to some of these people because they viewed them as something lesser, it didn’t matter to them what age, what gender, the things we saw…”

She trailed off, lost for a moment in the horror, images of lifeless, mutilated bodies, of small, doll-like corpses dancing in front of her eyes. The sound of a throat clearing had her tuning back into the real world, where all four men were staring at her with concerned eyes.

“I guess I’ll always wonder what would’ve happened if they’d let those without magic know what was happening, but it’s too late for that now,” she told them quietly staring down into her drink.

“Anyway they couldn’t help us, and it seemed like anyone over the age of twenty-five or so just wasn’t interested in helping us, in fighting back. They were too afraid to draw attention to themselves, and thought burying their heads in the sand or just quietly going along with things was a better option. Cowards the lot of them,” she spat with disdain, “Too afraid to risk their own necks to bother even as the country went to hell. People were being slaughtered left and right, non Magicals and Magicals alike.”

“Like I said in the end we won, but a lot of good people died first, people who could’ve, should’ve been spared if only the older generation had stepped up and done what was necessary. I was just seventeen at the time, but I led most of the war myself, and the parts I didn’t lead I was either involved in training of those who did or was otherwise acquainted with.”

“Because of that, and because I was the one to kill him in the end they regarded me as a hero. They practically deified me, those same people who in times before had been cruel to me, or who hid while we fought and did all the work for them worshipped the ground I walked on. I couldn’t go anywhere without paparazzi shoving cameras in my face or following around making commentary on every little thing I did or said,” she sighed tiredly, and took a sip of her wine, shaking her head unhappily.

“I couldn’t do it, after everything I’d seen, everything I’d been through I just wanted to be left alone, to live my life the way I chose, and not have to worry about those people turning on me or trying to turn to me the next time something went wrong. I was chained down by expectations and limits, and all I wanted was to be free.”

“I found the book with the backdoor across the barrier in the home of my godfather, who’d died in the early days of the war, and it felt like fate. I packed up all my things, said goodbye to my close friends and comrades, and didn’t look back,” she told them with a shrug.

“And yeah, it was hard sometimes, missing those friends, the comrades I made but they didn’t really need me anymore, all of them were moving on with their lives with their soulmates, and obviously I didn’t have mine. I was directionless, with a huge sense of wanderlust that I couldn’t seem to shake. Coming here was probably one of the most selfish and most wonderful choices I’d ever made for myself and that was before I met you,” she tipped her glass at Shanks, and then knocked it back.

“It seems in the end I was perhaps meant to be here all along, after all why else would my soulmate be here, on this side of the barrier?” she asked rhetorically.

“You can’t have actually expected to find him here though,” Benn pointed out shrewdly.

“No, I didn’t, when I passed from that side of the barrier to this one I gave up on the idea of ever meeting my soulmate. It was beyond difficult, honestly the hardest thing I’d done up to that point including walking to my death, but I had to think my soulmate would understand,” she answered him though her eyes were locked with Shanks’ whose thoughts were locked behind his cinnamon brown eyes.

“I couldn’t stay any longer, waiting for a soulmate who might never come. I felt stifled, locked away, and even when I was alone or outside it felt like I was in a place far too small, it was like I was choking all the time, always looking for a way out. I couldn’t breathe. I needed to be free, needed it more than anything I’ve ever needed in my life, and I can’t say I’m sorry for it,” she told him solemnly, though it ate at her to have to admit to something like that.

Shanks nodded slowly, trying to digest everything she was telling him, and she was telling him a hell of a lot, completely open and honest. She wasn’t hiding anything, but throwing it all out there in a show of trust that he never would’ve expected within less than twenty-four hours of their first meeting. He could do no less than reciprocate that honestly.

“I do understand,” he told her firmly, his eyes locked with hers hoping she could read the sincerity there, because by god did he understand. In her place he would’ve done the same thing, had in fact done the same thing when he’d snuck on to the Oro Jackson all those years ago, leaving everything he’d known behind searching for his freedom, “And even if I had been on the other side of the barrier, if I found out the circumstances, the reason you left me behind I still would’ve understood. I would’ve been hurt at first I think but I would’ve forgiven you because there’s nothing to forgive, nothing is more important to me than my nakama and my freedom.” 

“I probably would’ve tried like hell to go after you though,” he admitted with a smile hoping to relieve some of the guilt and shame on her face.

She smiled at him, a little sadly, and he could tell she didn’t quite believe him, but that was alright. He knew it would take time, but in the end, he’d make her believe, one way or another. She was his soulmate, he could do no less.

“My question is, if you’re a witch, with all these powers why didn’t you use them to fight the pirates earlier? Why let him slap you around at all if you were more than powerful enough to fight him off the entire time?” Lucky Roo asked curiously.

“I’ve been on this side of the barrier for something like five years now, and in that time I’ve managed to keep my gifts under wraps, and while things here are very different from the other side, I had no desire to be brought to the attention of anyone who might try to use my abilities for their own gain, that would only end with me back in the same situation I was running from in the first place, which probably would’ve been inevitable if I’d been obvious about my gifts,” she explained with a shrug.

The men all nodded in agreement. She was right. Shanks hated to think what the Government, or someone like Big Mom or Kaidou would’ve done if they’d found out about someone like his soulmate. It wouldn’t have been good that was for sure.

“So then why exactly are you telling us?” Benn asked with a frown, “I understand that Shanks is your soulmate, but that generally doesn’t lead to automatic trust, especially since it’s not just him you’re telling.”

“That’s true,” she admitted, “And under other circumstances I might not have. However magic can do many things, including setting up barriers of a sort around certain objects. In this case the barrier is around my house, and if you had any ill intentions towards me and tried to enter, especially if you’d tried to enter without permission there would’ve been… consequences.”

“What kind of consequences?” Shanks asked more curious than concerned. After all it was only right she protect herself, because the more he thought about it the more he disliked the idea of the Government ever finding out about his soulmate. The danger was bad enough just being his soulmate, but being his soulmate on top of having special, one of a kind, non-Devil Fruit powers?

The what if? Scenarios were more than enough to make his blood run cold. Part of him wanted to spirit her away, take her somewhere safe, as far away from the Government and his enemies as possible, and set as many barriers between her and them as possible, because she was his soulmate, and she was his, and he was more than a little possessive and protective of things that fell into that category.

Unfortunately he had a feeling she’d never go for that idea, and he couldn’t blame her. It would be like taking her freedom away all over again and he could never do that to her. He supposed he should just feel grateful she was more than capable of defending herself, even without exposing her gifts. Still he’d like to know the extent of her abilities, so he would know what she could handle if nothing else.

“Well,” she began slowly interrupting his whirling thoughts, “It would depend on your intentions. If someone was looking to come in just to steal things or were hoping to prank me, they’d feel a mild compulsion that would convince them it would be a bad idea, and go on their merry way.”

“If someone was looking to come in to harm me, that’s another story,” she told them with a grim smile, “They would be electrocuted into unconsciousness and transported into a cell until I arrived home. From there I would likely tear their mind to shreds to find out why they were trying to harm me and what all they knew before depositing the new vegetable into the ocean for the Sea Kings.”

“I’m a paranoid war veteran, and I learned a long time ago not to let enemies have a second chance,” she explained with a casual shrug at the men’s stupefied faces, “I’m sorry if you were expecting anything different.”

“Is that what those things are then? The little symbols? Some part of this magic?” Yasopp asked breaking the shocked silence, hoping to give his captain a little time to digest all the information coming his way.

He had inspected the modest home Shanks’ new soulmate had led them to with a sniper’s eye for detail, taking in the small almost unnoticeable little carvings that covered the doorway and windows. To most they might look like texture in the wood or scratches, but he could clearly see the little symbols, each of them tiny and perfect.

He also thought he saw the strangest sheen sometimes, just out of the corner of his eye, like the shimmered reflection of light on water, but whenever he turned to look at it head on it disappeared.

“You can see those?” she asked clearly surprised, “That’s pretty damn impressive, most can’t, and yes, that’s exactly what those little symbols are.”

“What I want to know is what you meant by ripping into their minds,” Benn spoke up into the silence.

“The mind arts are a branch of magics from my side of the barrier that allow the practitioner to manipulate the mind,” Iris explained casually, “With them you can wipe memories, read thoughts, defend your thoughts from intrusion, give others compulsions to act in certain ways, and more that I’m certain I’m forgetting.”

“Over the years I’ve become good at wiping memories as a matter of necessity, it’s the only reason I’ve been able to lay low for so long, and I am very good about defending my own mind from others,” she admitted her eyes flitting from person to person around the room gauging their reactions, “However I don’t ever use compulsions outside of the minor ones to avoid my home, it feels too much like a violation of free will.”

“As for mind reading…” she trailed off and shrugged, “Generally surface thoughts are easy to see, and gauge, though it takes some concentration, and I can’t seem to master the art of conversation while thought reading, too much information coming in at once.”

“Beyond that, there are some who can slip into your thoughts and memories and view every single one, from your greatest desires to you darkest secrets and biggest fears, all without ever alerting the one being read to their presence. They can do things like subtly plant suggestions or manipulate ideas, make you think you’re something you’re not, change the very core of your personality. I’m not one of those people,” she told them with a huff and a wry twist to her lips.

“Those people are like a surgeon’s scalpel, deadly and precise. Unfortunately when I need to read minds deeply I’m more of a sledgehammer. I literally cannot see every memory unless I basically tear through a person’s mind, and well, the mind is a delicate thing, it doesn’t tend to recover from things like that, which is why I only ever use the skill on those intent on doing me serious harm,” she told them lightly.

“You know you’re not going to scare me away,” Shanks informed her bluntly, surprising her enough to make her start in surprise.

He’d been thinking about this for a while now. Sure he could see how she’d be reassured by the shields around her home, but when she talked about her gifts she did it in the most threatening way possible, being completely blasé about how absolutely deadly and terrifying she could be.

Frankly if he was reading her correctly and he was almost positive he was, she was doing it for two reasons. The first, was to emphasize how dangerous she was, and reinforce the notion that they’d better not betray her trust and say anything that might put her in danger. He honestly wasn’t too worried about that piece of it, she was his soulmate, no way in hell would he betray her, and he had absolute confidence none of his crew would either. The second part was much more important to him.

Because it almost seemed as if she was trying to scare him away, laying everything out so frankly, trying to get a reaction of disgust, anger, or fear from him. Unfortunately for her despite her blasé tone, he’d seen the almost white-knuckled grip she had on her glass, and the way her body kept shifting with agitation. He’d also glimpsed the small indications in her eyes as she held his. She was absolutely and utterly terrified to be telling him all of this, to be laying it all out there on the line to a near stranger.

Instinct told him she did it for one simple reason, she was completely and utterly convinced that when he found out about all this he would reject her, both as a person and as his soulmate. The only reason she was laying it all out there the way she was, was because she wanted to get the ‘inevitable’ over with as soon as possible.

A part of him ached for his soulmate, because what kind of life had she lived that a part of her expected even her soulmate to reject her. He stood, and crossed over to her, where she was standing frozen at her counter and placed a firm hand on her shoulder, wishing not for the first time he had the other hand, so he could set it to hold her more intimately.

“I am a pirate, and have been for something like twenty years now. I know it’s nothing like being in a war, but I have seen and done terrible things to people in the name of protecting both myself and my nakama. I’m not going to be scared off by anything you say about these gifts of yours, terrifying though they may be to some,” he informed her sternly holding her gaze, until her green eyes flickered away from his.

“You don’t understand,” she told him turning her face away, “I can do things, terrible things. I can control your every action, like a puppet on a string, I can light every single nerve on fire in a torture so terrible it drives those under it insane if they’re exposed to it for more than five minutes, and I can with two words tear your soul from your body and shred it to pieces.”

“Can and will are two very different things,” Shanks informed her, grabbing her chin carefully and turning her face to look at him, “Are you intending to do those things?”

“No!” she objected her beautiful green eyes wide with dismay, “I wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean…”

‘Doesn’t mean you believe me’ Shanks filled in mentally even as she trailed off tiredly. Somewhere out there were people who had hurt his soulmate, no one was this distrusting or afraid otherwise. Unfortunately those people were likely on the other side of this barrier she told him about. However if ever they had the misfortune of crossing over and then crossing his path, he’d teach them what regret really was.

“You’re my soulmate,” he informed her firmly stroking a thumb across her cheekbone, even as he held her gaze willing her to believe him, “And I trust you to use whatever gifts you possess, however you see fit, and that in doing so you would never hurt me. You say you can read minds? Surface thoughts right? Do it. I’ll prove to you I’m not lying.”

Her eyes searched his for long moments, and then he felt the softest of whispers against his mind, only for the briefest of seconds, and then it was gone, and his soulmate was flushing a pretty rose color, her eyes wide with surprise and tinted with fragile hope.

Iris had been more than a bit surprised at what she’d found, as she’d carefully brushed against his thoughts. Truly, more than anything Shanks wanted her to be happy. He ranked that happiness even above her safety. He wouldn’t be happy with her doing dangerous things just to make her happy, but he wouldn’t protest either.

She’d heard a lot of his thoughts about her, in that small moment, including the possessive and almost dark thoughts he had about her, about keeping her close, clutching on tight and not letting go no matter what. Intermixed with hints of lust and fierce protectiveness and sheer want of her, body, mind and soul. Those thoughts were only tempered by the desire for her to be happy, to want her to want to stay with him, to give her, her freedom.

It was really no wonder she felt as safe as she did in his hold. Here was the one man in the world, who wanted her to be happy and free more than anything else including his more selfish desires. Impulsively she reached out and wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her face in his chest and just breathing for a moment, taking him in.

“You really are something else aren’t you?” she asked rhetorically as his arm wrapped tightly around her waist holding her just as tightly.

“The captain is something alright,” Benn informed her, carefully reminding her of the presence of others in the room. Both of them shifted to look at him, though he noted they didn’t let go of one another.

“Yeah captain is pretty special,” Roo agreed, casually munching on a drumstick he’d pulled from his pocket, kept there for safekeeping and emergency snack.

“I’m beginning to see that,” Iris admitted quietly as she pulled back, though she didn’t go far, her hands still resting on his waist, “The question is where do we go from here.”

“What are you asking exactly?” Shanks asked running his hand gently up and down her arm.

“Well, we’re soulmates, and you’ve made it clear you don’t plan to reject me, and I certainly don’t plan to reject you, so now what?” she asked pragmatically, “You’re a pirate, and a Yonko to boot, I doubt you stay in one place very long, so what would you like me to do?”

“What I’d like, is for you to join us on the Red Force, to move into my cabin with me, and become a permanent member of my crew,” Shanks told her bluntly.

“Okay.”

“I understand we probably need to comp… okay?” he repeated dumbly as he took a second to allow her response to sink in.

He’d expected to need to compromise. He’d expected to have to fight to get her to leave the island, after all this was her home. He would’ve given in to what she wanted, after all it wouldn’t do to chain her or make decisions for her, but he’d hoped he’d be able to talk her into staying on one of the islands in the heart of his territory, where she’d be safer at least. Instead it appeared she’d agreed, right on the spot, to what he wanted.

“Okay I’ll go with you, and I’ll stay,” she told him intently, peering up at him through her sooty lashes, “So long as you want me there I’ll stay, we’re soulmates right? So I think I’d probably be happiest with you, wherever that happens to be.”

“You don’t want to stay here?” he asked surprised, double-checking, even if a part of him, wanted to smack himself for even suggesting and just run with her agreement. Sure he could be impulsive, but with his soulmate he wanted to take things carefully, she deserved that much, “I mean it’s your home right?”

“Home?” she repeated a slightly wistful smile on her face, “I haven’t ever had a place I’d consider home, not really. No unless you count the boarding school I attended for a few years, but that was destroyed in the war.”

Shanks frowned concerned, gently tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, because even he, for all that he’d been a pirate most of his life, had had somewhere he could consider home. Even if that home was a ship in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by his fellow pirates, his family, starting with the Oro Jackson, and eventually moving to the Red Force.

“You didn’t have a home as a child?” Yasopp asked troubled.

“I had a house I lived in,” she told him with a frown, “But the people I lived with, my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, they weren’t welcoming to say the least. I don’t think a place with an atmosphere as hostile as that one could be considered a home really.”

“Iris, your Aunt and Uncle, they weren’t abusive were they?” Benn asked deeply concerned, because he could read between the lines, and saw the way his captain was stiffening, hearing the insinuation himself, though Shanks would never have dared to ask, which was why Benn had taken it upon himself to do so.

“They were never physically abusive, though they did abuse me in other little ways,” she admitted her tone completely flat and neutral, “And I prefer not to talk about it thank you. I’ve done more than my fair share of therapy over it, and while I’m not “better” per se I’ve learned to cope.”

She could feel Shanks hand tighten slightly on her waist, but he made no move to let go. It had taken the combined pleading of Hermione, Ron and George to get her to go to therapy in the first place, that combined with her Occlumency and meditative sessions had helped her reach a place where she could feel at peace with herself. She wasn’t fixed, and probably never would be, but she was living, functioning, and she could smile, laugh and love, which was a good deal better than the mere surviving she’d been doing before.

“So you’ll come with me,” Shanks affirmed, changing the subject back and moving away from the one that obviously had his soulmate very uncomfortable. She’d been shockingly open with them, so it was only fair she got to keep a bit to herself.

He understood not wanting to talk about it, he admired the hell out of her for even admitting it had happened in the first place. It had taken him years to admit to the abuse he’d suffered at his drunken father’s hands, and only because Captain Roger had essentially already known about it thanks to his hearing the Voice of All Things.

As it stood, only Roger, Rayleigh, Buggy, and the three other men in the room knew anything of his past before the Roger Pirates, though in time and with trust he would likely tell his soulmate. It was only fair after all.

“I will,” she affirmed again, and he beamed at her, gently squeezing her waist.

Already he was making plans, shifting things in his room aboard the Red Force around in his mind to accommodate her and her things, trying to figure out what she’d want, because if there was one thing he’d determined out of this conversation it was that he was going to give his soulmate a home. She deserved that much, at the very least.

“How long will it take you to get packed and moved?” he asked, “We’ll probably be in this port for a couple of days to get restocked, but if you need longer, we can certainly stay for a bit. Though admittedly probably not too long considering Big Mom will come sniffing around if we stay too close to the border for long.”

“I could probably be done today,” she answered with a serious look on her face, “I actually haven’t been here as long as you seem to think I have. It’s only been about three months since I settled here.”

“Really?” Shanks asked surprised, “What were you doing before that? You said you crossed the barrier something like five years ago right?”

“That’s right, and yes really,” she told him with an amused smile, “As for what I was doing, well I was adventuring of course.”

Benn was relieved to see her face light up at the mention of adventuring and even more relieved to see his captain’s answering smile. Things had gotten pretty heavy for a while in their conversations, and it left him with the impression that Iris was a very solemn, and serious individual. It also left him wondering how she ended up matched with someone like the captain, because she seemed to be wound so tightly in comparison to the laidback man, not that Shanks couldn’t be serious when he wanted to be, it just seemed like a really sharp contrast in character.

However seeing her face light as she eagerly told Shanks all about her adventures and misadventures on the Grand Line, comparing stories, as the two of them eagerly recounted their experiences to one another, he began to see how they fit. Hearing about some of the things she’d done trying to figure out how things worked in this world reminded him eerily of what Shanks himself would’ve done in that situation.

He could tell by the amused and slight nervous looks on Yassop and Roo’s faces that they saw it too. After all one captain to look after was bad enough, he couldn’t imagine what two of them would be like. It was as that thought hit him though, that he began to see how the two of them would fit together.

Shanks would be the wild, free one, who would coax lightness and laughter that Iris appeared to have deeply suppressed, back into his soulmate, while Iris would in turn keep Shanks grounded. Sure she’d probably go along with the Captain in most things, but she would also keep him from getting in too deep.

In some ways she was very much like Benn himself, he was beginning to see it now, and he had the feeling the two of them would likely end up staunch allies in the future. For now though he just let himself be amused, amused and relieved because it could’ve been bad, really bad considering Shanks’ own force of will and Iris’ gifts and fierce personality.

He was glad, he realized, glad for both of them, and with her skills she would be a welcome addition aboard the Red Force. Instinctively he knew that while things with Shanks had always been interesting, they were about to get even more so. He couldn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was seriously not expecting this to be nearly as popular as it was! Over a hundred Kudos seriously? Thank you! I'm really glad people seem to like them, though I won't be posting any new Soulmate ones until after I finish Heart of a Phoenix, ~~As long as my muse cooperates and doesn't decide to take off on me~~ I will continue to write for this one.  
> If you're interested I will be posting of Previews of some of my plot bunnies over on my Tumblr account, some of which will hopefully eventually end up over here as full fledged stories (like the one I posted this week, which wasn't supposed to be started yet, but I was convinced to write anyway lol).   
> Previews will ~~hopefully~~ be posted every Monday and will be tagged #PreviewMonday, feel free to check it out and ask questions, or request previews of things. Most of what I prefer to write can be found on my profile if you want to check it out :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Apologies in advance for any mistakes, my beta had finals this week but I still wanted to get the chapter out for you, so any mistakes are my own!

Iris leaned casually on the railing just to the right of the dragon figurehead of the Red Force, enjoying the breeze as it gently tugged her hair, and the occasional cool drops of sea spray. She was alone on deck for the most part, the rest of the crew nursing hangovers from the previous night. From what she could tell only she, Benn, and the designated lookout were awake to enjoy the bright morning.

She had a cup of tea in her hands kept warm with the help of a charm, and every few minutes she'd lift it to her lips savoring the taste. It was a special blend ordered straight from Wano country, which Shanks had gone out of his way to make sure she was always fully supplied in. It was kind of a funny story how that had come about.

Shortly after joining the crew, she'd been told that it was tradition for the entire crew to stock up on the newest crew member's favorite drink, and go to an nearby island and throw a raucous celebration. She'd been forced to admit then that she didn't particularly care for alcohol, though she had no objections against those who imbibed safely she had never acquired a taste for it. Honestly she'd thought for a moment she'd given her poor soulmate a heart attack on the spot he'd been whining and waffling and flopping all over the place.

In the end they'd decided to just go with a kind of alcohol she didn't mind, which meant wine or champagne. Watching a pirate crew who was used to hard liquor attempt to get drunk and party with wine and champagne had been unexpectedly hilarious. She and Benn had laughed together over their completely miserable expressions and the faces they'd made with each gulp of wine. Eventually she'd caved and told them to drink whatever they pleased. Shanks had pouted about tradition but the crew had been pleased.

It had been a fun night, and she got to see her soulmate in his element. Apparently drunk Shanks came up with all kinds of fun ideas, and decided all kinds of dangerous things. They'd gone wild tiger hunting, come across a Grand Line tiger over thirty feet tall, and felled the beast, skinny dipped in the ocean and almost gotten eaten by Sea Kings loosing Shanks' shirt and her pants in the process, and then somehow gotten lost on their way back to the ship and the crew. They'd spent the night in a cave alone together keeping one another warm, which was amusing as a drunk Shanks was also a very handsy Shanks.

At one point she was pretty sure they were going to have their first time together on the stone floor of the cave with only the tiger pelt, which Shanks had insisted on keeping, to protect them from bruises. However apparently exhaustion had caught up to him and he'd face planted right into her chest, already snoring away.

She'd been a little annoyed at first, more than a little frustrated at being left hanging, but Shanks was kind of adorable, not to mention cuddly in his sleep. Eventually she'd given in, huffed in amusement, set wards up to alert her if anyone came, wrapped them up, laced her fingers through his crimson hair to keep him in place and fallen asleep.

They'd been woken the next morning by the sound of the proximity wards going off, which had Shanks moaning in pain from his hangover, but still ready to fight, until they saw who had woken them. Poor Benn looked like he couldn't decide between amusement or horror at the position he'd caught them in. Honestly she felt like a schoolgirl caught by McGonagall out of bounds after hours.

Shanks hadn't been too happy himself about passing out on her before they could properly get anywhere. Caught between his puppy-dog eyes and Benn's stern McGonagall glare she'd ended up laughing harder than she had in a long time, much to both men's consternation. It had been fun, having an adventure with her soulmate, far more fun than she'd ever had on her own, by the time she'd finished laughing both men had been smiling at her, Benn reluctantly and Shanks with awe and fondness.

She'd thought that was the end of it, and had been prepared to check off the traditional celebration as complete. However her soulmate had, had something else in mind, something she hadn't found out about until mid-adventure in Wano, mostly because she'd been distracted at the time, learning how to sail a ship the right way.

Before when she'd been making her way around the Grand Line on her own she'd had her own little craft that she'd basically powered with magic, following the log pose wherever caught her fancy. She'd had more than a few mishaps that way, especially when she'd first started out, completely underestimating Grand Line weather. Several of which had led to very interesting adventures. Eventually though she'd gotten the hang of it, so of course the first thing she'd offered was to do the same for the Red Force.

Shanks had immediately vetoed the idea, proclaiming that it was 'cheating'. He also told her, much more seriously, that he didn't want her to tire herself out using magic all the time, especially since he assumed it would take much more magic to direct a ship the size of his than it had her small skiff. That was correct of course, and she'd been touched by his consideration for her, but she still wanted to contribute. She'd reminded him that he'd said he'd make her a member of the crew, which meant pulling her weight.

He'd stared at her with fathomless eyes for a second, before cheerfully agreeing to show her the ropes. Later Benn would clue her in that, that particular expression was her soulmate's 'captain' expression, the one he used when he was gauging important things to do with his crew. Apparently he'd been trying to see how serious she was through a combination of instinct and Observation Haki, and upon seeing that she was absolutely sincere had been immediately approving.

Which was why she hadn't suspected a thing despite her soulmate’s plotting, as Yasopp showed her how to tie knots, Benn taught her the maps and currents of the Grand Line, Lucky Roo showed her how to move safely through the ship in all weather and Shanks taught her to steer the ship. She'd been kept so busy she'd basically fallen into bed every night exhausted, so much so that she barely registered that she was suddenly sharing a bed with a man at night, until she was so used to having him there that it became hard to sleep without him.

Upon their arrival in Wano she'd been kept distracted by Benn who introduced her to the traditions of the island and took her shopping for anything she thought she might need. She'd later discover he was a diversion, meant to keep her occupied while her soulmate went hunting. When she returned to the ship she'd discovered her rather battered soulmate beaming at her and holding out a box.

She'd been horrified about the state of him, and spent several minutes fussing, assessing his injuries. He'd pouted at her for a bit, insisting she open his gift. She'd made sure he was alright first before opening it to find several different blends of tea. Apparently he hadn't forgotten that when he first asked for her favorite drink she'd said tea, nor had he forgotten the wistful way she'd said it. She’d had a hard time finding a tea she liked on this side of the barrier, for whatever reason they all tasted strange and unnatural to her.

That in mind he'd decided to make a trip to Wano and actually challenged one of the samurai, who owned the most famous tea house in Wano in the hopes of getting her different tea blends she'd enjoy. He'd won obviously, but it had been harder than he'd expected in part because of the loss of his arm, and in part because said samurai just happened to be one of the strongest on the island. Which was where he'd gotten the tea he'd presented her.

She was more than a little touched at the gesture. No one had ever gone to such lengths to obtain a gift for her before. However that wasn't the end, apparently he'd managed to get enough tea to fill the hold of the Red Force, and guaranteed her a lifetime supply from the Samurai who'd been impressed by the 'valor and conviction of the fight to win tea for his lady love'. 

With the tea they'd immediately adjourned to the nearest deserted island, where the Red Haired pirates proceeded to have their first ever, completely sober, tea party. She'd nearly laughed herself sick watching pirates attempt to have a proper tea, but she'd never felt more included or valued in her life. It had been a really touching gesture by both Shanks and the crew, which she'd proceeded to thank him for very thoroughly right in the middle of the tea party with the entirety of the crew sans Benn who was shaking his head in fond exasperation, cheering, stomping and whistling from all sides.

When she'd finally pulled away for air she'd seen the dark, hungry look he'd given her, even if he hadn't followed up on it just then, and been thrilled by it. No one had ever looked at her the way Shanks looked at her, like she was a something he wanted to devour. It was a heady feeling, to know she could make someone like him feel that way.

She smiled at the memory taking another sip of her tea, not even startling when a firm, strong, arm snaked its way around her waist and she was pressed back into a solid, warm chest. Instead she sighed contentedly leaning back into the hold of her soulmate.

"Good morning," she greeted, keeping her voice low and soft in respect for the hangover he no doubt had after the night before.

"Morning," he greeted quietly squeezing her middle affectionately. She'd noticed early on her soulmate was a very physically affectionate person, something that had taken some getting used to, given the only people who'd even hugged her once in a while were back on the other side of the barrier. In fact since coming to this side the only people she'd allowed to hug her were Shanks, Wren, and Tana.

"Why'd you leave?" he asked the words slurred together a bit, his voice still rough from sleep.

"I wanted to think for a bit, this seemed like the place to do it," she told him honestly, "Did I wake you?"

"Mmm," he hummed noncommittally his grip tightening for a second before asking, "What you thinkin' bout?"

"You, and me, life in general," she answered wrapping one of her own arms over his and lifting her tea to her lips, taking a small sip and savoring the taste.

"Regrets?" he asked, and though his voice was still rough she could tell there was a bit of anxiety to it.

She'd learned over the months since stepping aboard the Red Force that while her soulmate was a generally laid-back man with a carefree facade, it was just that a facade. He was laid-back, not many things seemed to make him angry. She honestly thought you'd have to deliberately be trying to seriously piss him off, but he was also shrewd, extremely intelligent, and a bit of a worrier at times, especially when it came to the people he cared for. A category she was coming to realize she was sliding deeper and deeper into with each passing day.

"About leaving with you?" she asked rhetorically, "None."

"Good," he told her his hold loosening a bit and lips pressing to her hair, "that's good."

"Though I do miss Tana, Wren and Ko sometimes, especially Wren, I'd much rather be with you," she elaborated just in case.

It was true enough. In the few days while the Red Force had been restocking Wren had been practically glued to her side. The little girl had, had a serious case of hero worship and followed her everywhere. It was then she discovered her soulmate was surprisingly good with children. Apparently in his adventures he'd stumbled on a brat named Luffy with the dream of becoming Pirate King.

He'd gone on and on about how stubborn, brave, and hilarious the kid had been, telling her all kinds of stories and about how excited he was to see him again someday, musing on what kind of things the boy he'd affectionately dubbed 'anchor' would get up to. She had seen the deep affection Shanks had for the boy, and had resolved to meet him herself someday. He'd sounded like an interesting kid.

Outside of letting Wren dog her footsteps she'd also spent a lot of time chatting with Tana and Ko, who despite being laid up had been in good humor and extremely thankful to both her and the Red Hair pirates for protecting his family. The three of them had gone from tentative friends, to dear companions in that short space of time, and the soulmated pair had even named her Wren's godmother. Despite that though, leaving was still the right decision.

"Can always go visit," Shanks told her gently, "I don't mind."

And he wouldn't. Shanks was extremely accommodating, both to his crew as captain and to her as soulmate, often visiting places at a whim. Yasopp wanted to visit some place famous for ammunition? Lucky Roo had heard of a new restaurant that served amazing Seaking meat? Benn thought there might be a bookstore with an obscure old map? Shanks was happy to go. 

Anything that might lead to adventure Shanks was more than happy to do. She was coming to realize he was a complex man with very simple desires, chief among them to be free and to have his nakama safe and happy. The more she learned about him, the more she admired him, and the deeper her feelings for him became. She was more than half in love with him and she knew it. The feeling was actually a little terrifying, but there was nothing she could do, he was her soulmate, and it was also just as exciting as it was frightening.

"I know," she told him and she did, "Not now though."

Shanks grunted in agreement, and she settled in, enjoying the moment, the wind on her face and her soulmate at her back, tracing random patterns on the skin of the arm he kept firmly around her waist, apparently set on not moving for a while. The peace of their moment was interrupted by the call of the lookout.

"Hawkeye off the port bow!"

Iris frowned in confusion, feeling the way her soulmate stiffened behind her, and began to practically vibrate with excitement. She'd learned a lot of nautical terminology from Shanks and the crew over the past few months, but 'Hawkeye' wasn't a term she was familiar with. She knew 'seagulls' or 'gulls' referred to the Navy though maybe Hawkeye was some version of that?

Leaning forward on to the rail again she peered around the figurehead, hoping to catch sight of whatever the lookout had spotted. Behind her Shanks let go and began to bounce around the deck, hangover apparently forgotten in lieu of his excitement of whatever this 'Hawkeye' was, shouting orders to the crew to get the Red Force turned to meet it head on.

Peering out over the water she saw what looked like a small raft bobbing up and down on the waves far below the upper decks. It certainly didn't look like any Navy vessel that she'd ever seen before, and by now she'd seen a few.

Her soulmate had explained that while they weren't attacked very often by the Navy because of their reputation and the fact that Naval presence was fairly scarce in the New World, sometimes some new big shot would want to take a crack at him. He figured it would probably be happening even more frequently now than is used to, as everyone would assume, like the pirate she'd gutted the day they met, that with the loss of his arm he wouldn't be strong enough to hold on to his position as a Yonko.

Both pirates and Navy alike would be looking to capitalize on his 'weakness' so she had been warned she should be prepared for that. Though Benn at least was hopeful the attacks would taper off again after Shanks proved he was still more than capable of defending himself and his territory. The first mate was a little worried Big Mom or Kaidou might even try for it, though apparently he wasn't all that concerned about Whitebeard, something about he and her soulmate being long term acquaintances and Whitebeard being a man of honor.

Still despite the warning the first attack had taken her by surprise. Not because of the danger, or the level of combat ability, but by the attitude of Shanks and the crew. They acted like being attacked was actually a reason to celebrate, cheering even when the lookout had announced there were 'gulls on the horizon' that didn't look to be turning away.

Unsure what to do she'd stood to the side, just observing as the crew prepped for battle against the Navy ship, happily chatting amongst themselves as they checked weapons and took positions around the ship. The battle once it actually progressed passed the attempt to gun one another down with cannons had been short and brutal. The marines were no where near the level they needed to be, to be taking on a Yonko's crew. At the end she'd been more than a bit surprised about how many people had been left alive.

Not only had they not lost any of their own crew, but the Navy had only lost a handful of men. These deaths had for the most part been accidents, with the Red Hair crew fighting more to beat the marines unconscious rather than going for a quick kill. And while the marines had been intent on dolling out as many deaths as possible, stern and serious and exactly what she'd expect from a military organization, the Red Haired pirates had been completely opposite.

They'd basically smiled and laughed, joking with one another and generally enjoying themselves throughout the whole thing. Even Benn had been smiling as he lit into any foolish marine who got close enough to him with the butt end of his rifle.

She'd been more than a little shocked. Sure she supposed that the psychological factor of attempting to take on a Yonko and basically getting laughed at the whole battle could be a serious hit to morale, but the way they did things was so different than how she had back on her side of the barrier.

During the war she'd quickly learned that the only good way to ensure you'd never take a spell to the back was to put an enemy down permanently. Stunners were all well and good for schoolkids playing games, but they did absolutely nothing in real life, not when a quick 'Ennervate' got the downed enemy up and back into action within seconds. The things she had been forced to do back then still turned her stomach and gave her nightmares, but she still believed that sometimes you had to get your hands dirty and your soul tarnished to protect the ones you loved.

Fighting to the death was ingrained in her very being by now, the war and losses she'd suffered for her mistakes had seen to that. Which was why she abhorred fighting. She'd do it if she had to, when there was no other option, but at heart she was more of a pacifist. It was also why seeing the way the Red Hair pirates fought had come as such a shock.

To see them smiling and having fun while doling out violence, even if no one was purposely killing anyone was a bit alarming to say the least. She couldn't imagine actually enjoying fighting with others, not even if she wasn't aiming to kill, and frankly at this point in her life she wasn't sure she could fight that way even if she wanted to, killing was so ingrained in her psyche.

That wasn't to say she wasn't able to spar or practice and enjoy herself, but she could only to that with someone she trusted, and certainly not with any sort of enemy.

Afterwards while the crew threw a celebration party over their victory, she hadn't had the will to really join in. Instead she'd retreated to the figurehead, actually climbing down into the dragon's mouth, her legs swinging over the lip, leaning on one of the teeth and staring out over the ocean. It was here her soulmate found her surprisingly still sober looking extremely concerned. Apparently he'd been more than a little worried not seeing her immediately in the aftermath of the fight, and only the fact that he could still feel her close by with his Observation Haki had stopped him chasing after the marines, assuming they'd kidnapped her.

Seeing the expression on her face he'd settled down beside her, leaning back against the back of the dragon's mouth and just waiting for her to speak. It was honestly the best thing he could've done. She wouldn't have reacted well to any pestering, and her automatic response even after all these years to someone asking if she was alright was still "I'm fine."

Once she'd gathered her thoughts a bit she'd done her best to explain her feelings on the matter. She'd mentioned the war to him before, had given him an overview the day they met, but this time she gave details. She talked about the blood, the smell of smoke, the terror. 

She told him about her connection to Voldemort, how when she'd slept he'd forced her to see every single twisted act he'd committed during his reign of terror, and how she connected as she was sharing even his emotions, the only thing she could feel while she watched was sadistic pleasure, even if her mind screamed it was wrong. She admitted to waking in the nights during the war and vomiting into the bucket she'd learned to keep by her bed early on, and showed him some of the minor scars leftover from where she'd leave bloody claw marks on herself trying to get herself/Voldemort to stop.

Quietly she admitted she hated fighting, hated it to the very core of her being, which was why she'd refused to be an Auror when the war ended. Several people back then including people who she considered friends had questioned her, wondering why she wouldn't keep fighting since she was so good at it. No matter how many times she'd explained you could dislike something you were good at none of them had ever understood. 

She'd kind of been expecting the same thing from her soulmate, but once more he'd surprised her. He'd pulled her into his arms and promised she'd never have to fight again if she didn't want to. She'd tried to protest, insisting that it was part of her job as part of the crew, but he insisted it wasn't. He told her he'd never make any member of his crew do something that clearly hurt them the way fighting seemed to hurt her, and he certainly wouldn't see his soulmate suffer for something he could prevent.

She'd cried then, for the first time in what felt like a long time. Shanks had held her to his chest and rocked her humming something under his breath and just letting her cry. When she'd finally finished she'd thanked him and apologized, and he'd immediately told her not to be stupid, that was what soulmates were for. It nearly made her cry again, she'd chosen to kiss him instead, tangling her hands in his crimson locks and pressing her lips fiercely to his.

He'd seemed to understand accepting it and returning it with equal passion. Unfortunately they hadn't been able to go further than kissing before Yasopp had called out. Apparently everyone was looking for the captain, realizing even in their drunken states that the captain was missing. She'd sighed and pressed a kiss to his cheek before reluctantly separating from him.

The next day he'd made an announcement to the crew that she wouldn't be joining them in their skirmishes with marines or pirates unless the situation was actually dire. She'd expected protests, or accusations of favoritism, mostly because she was Shanks soulmate, but not a single person had said anything, just shrugging their shoulders and moving on with their day. A couple of them, including Lucky Roo had clasped her understandingly on the shoulder but that was it.

It was decided that when they did get into skirmishes she would keep out of sight, generally in the rigging or the crow's nest since the fighting wasn't actually likely to reach either of those places. Which was why once she'd gained her bearings and realized that the sighting of this 'Hawkeye' might mean a fight, she turned and scrambled up on to the shroud attached to the foremast for a better view.

Up higher she was surprised to see that this 'Hawkeye' was actually just a single man, one sailing on a small raft, with the largest sword she'd ever seen strapped to his back. It took her a minute, but eventually she remembered that one of the Shichibukai was named Dracule Mihawk and that his epithet was actually 'Hawkeye.'

Honestly she wasn't sure if she was supposed to be concerned or not. From what she remembered the man was supposedly the world's greatest swordsman and attached to the World Government and the Navy, even if he was still a pirate. She assumed he was a bit like a privateer that way, though if that made him friend or enemy she wasn't sure.

However considering no cannons were being fired and the pirates close enough were actually throwing lines down to the raft, she was going to go with friend. Figuring someone would say something to her if she was incorrect she hopped down from the shroud on to the deck, sweeping the deck for the tell tale red of her soulmate's hair. 

She spotted him just in time to watch as Dracule Mihawk leaped gracefully aboard, drawing his enormous sword in a smooth practiced motion and clashed fiercely against her soulmate's saber. The resultant shockwave probably would've knocked her to the ground if she hadn't had a hand wrapped firmly around the ropes of the shroud.

Glancing around it didn't look like any of the other pirates were surprised by the sudden attack, as whoops and hollars echoed across the deck. Figuring this must be fairly normal she used what little Observation she'd picked up to locate Benn and make her way over to where he was standing, out of range of any potential skirmish between the two men, but close enough to watch.

He was leaning casually against the mainmast, a lit cigarette in his mouth, dark eyes on the still figures of her soulmate and the swordsman who appeared to be having some kind of standoff though neither one was moving.

"What's going on?" she asked quietly, leaning against the empty space next to him.

"Ah, forgot, you haven't gotten to meet Hawkeye yet have you?" he asked rhetorically, his eyes flicking briefly over to her before resettling on the two fighting men.

"Shanks and Mihawk are rivals of a sort, though they're also kind of friends. They don't mention it a lot, but Shanks is a damn fine swordsman, and the two of them often spar. I've heard other swordsmen and women say that when the two of them clash they can hear the ringing of their swords all the way up and down the Grand Line," he explained, lips twitching in a half smile around his cigarette.

"I suppose that might be true enough, but you're worried," she informed him bluntly, "why?"

It was true the first mate was anxious. It wasn't obvious at first glance, considering his lazy posture, unreadable expression and the cigarette in his mouth, but it was in the way his fingers were caressing the butt of his rifle and the tight lines at the corner of his eyes. That and the way he wouldn't look away from Shanks and Mihawk.

"You know me too well," he mused eyes flicking to her again for a brief second a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth before it was pulled back by worry, "It's probably nothing, and Shanks would accuse me of being a mother hen again but..."

"But?" she prompted feeling more than a bit anxious herself considering Mihawk was an unknown to her.

"But this is the first time the two of them have met up since Shanks lost his arm," Benn explained in an undertone to keep his voice from traveling to the two fighters or to any of the crew who might be lurking nearby.

"I see," she still hadn't gotten the full story of how exactly Shanks had lost his arm, though she did know it had something to do with the kid, Luffy that he adored so much. It seemed like a sensitive topic, not just to Shanks himself but to the crew as a whole, so she hadn't bothered to ask. Mostly because arm or no arm Shanks was her soulmate, and she didn't care about the loss outside of how it affected him personally.

She did know though that they crew had been a bit overprotective of the captain since he'd lost the appendage though. Shanks had complained about it often enough and loudly enough, not that it stopped them. She understood their worry though she did wonder if it hurt Shanks' pride the way she half-suspected it did.

From where she was standing she could see both fighter's in profile, enough to know their eyes were locked and close enough to feel their clashing haki. She was also close enough to see the slight slump in Shanks' posture and the fleeting expression on his face before the two withdrew and both sheathed their swords indicating they weren't going to be fighting.

Still her heart clenched in concern. She hadn't liked that expression on Shanks face, even if she'd only gotten the briefest of glimpses of it before it had been locked away. It made her want to fold him into her arms and hide him away from the world, despite knowing that he was a fierce Yonko, a pirate emperor who could take care of himself.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice when the newcomer's eyes shifted to her. She did however notice Benn stiffening beside her, turning she was met by the cold golden stare of a bird of prey.

Benn watched as Iris and Mihawk clashed, their gazes locking perhaps even more intently than Shanks' had. Confused at the ice he could practically feel wafting off Iris who was normally so even tempered he glanced at his captain, who unfortunately looked as baffled as he felt.

"It's surprising that you meet my eyes so easily, not many dare to do so," he informed her quirking an eyebrow in interest, "Are you the newest member of Shanks' crew then? How interesting. Normally the new ones aren't so bold."

In the space of an eye-blink a knife flew straight across the deck, and buried itself to the hilt in the rail behind Hawkeye. Benn gaped, not sure if he should be more surprised by the fact that Iris had apparently decided to throw a dagger at Dracule 'Hawkeye' Mihawk, or that she'd been fast and accurate enough that she'd actually nicked him, just the tip of his ear, but enough that it was dripping blood.

"Shanks' new soulmate as a matter of fact," she informed the swordsman her voice just as icy as her demeanor, apparently either not knowing or not caring that technically as part of the Government Hawkeye shouldn't really have sensitive information like that.

"Ah," their guest replied, "I see. It seems you're well matched. My apologies."

Benn was even more confused than he had been before, he was glad Mihawk somehow understood because he certainly didn't. Especially since he knew for a fact that Iris didn't like violence but looked about ready to tear Mihawk's throat out. And whatever it was the proud swordsman had actually apologized for it, he hadn't even known the man _knew_ the words let alone would actually speak them.

"Do _not_ do it again," Iris warned the silent 'or I'll kill you' at the end of that sentence carrying loud and clear despite not being voiced aloud, and Benn wondered if it was the fact that Mihawk had mistaken her for just the average crew member that was bothering her. It was the only thing he could think of, but it didn't seem in character for Iris to get this angry about it nor for Mihawk to apologize over it.

Mihawk dipped his head in acknowledgment and the icy atmosphere disappeared as Iris relaxed and walked over to Shanks who still looked completely and utterly perplexed about what had just transpired between the two.

"Well," his captain began hesitantly into the silence that followed carefully slinging his arm around Iris' waist and relaxing a bit when she settled easily into his grip and leaned into him, "I suppose it's a bit late now, but Mihawk this is my soulmate Iris Potter, Iris this is Dracule Mihawk my friend and former rival."

Benn was surprised at the 'former' part of that sentence until Shanks elaborated, "Apparently he doesn't want to fight me one armed, the stingy bastard."

Benn rolled his eyes as his captain pouted theatrically at the swordsman, but a part of him wasn't surprised. Mihawk had a certain standard and honor code despite being a pirate that he followed to the letter, much like Shanks. Apparently fighting his rival, when he wasn't at his best was one of those things that went against that code. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or concerned, knowing that Mihawk's refusal to fight him had to smart.

He knew his captain didn't regret the loss of the arm, it was either the appendage or Luffy's life and he knew Shanks would happily chose the little anchor every single time, but that didn't mean at times like this it didn't sting his pride.

"So let's party!" Shanks announced happily, and Benn realized he'd been so caught up in his thoughts that he'd missed something. Judging from the resigned expression on Mihawk's face and the amused twitch of Iris' lips though his captain had done something and then decided to celebrate the arrival of his friend."

...~oO*Oo~...

The party that night was as loud and raucous as usual with Shanks at the center happily gulping sake, with Mihawk on one side, and Iris on the other both sipping wine. What was unusual was how close Iris was sticking to her soulmate, nearly hovering, though it was unobtrusive and not at all overbearing.

An outsider wouldn't have noticed, hell a lot of the crew hadn't, but he could tell Yasopp and Roo definitely had, along with Shanks himself. If Mihawk was a woman he might've thought she was jealous of a potential former lover, but since he wasn't and Shanks was a hundred percent heterosexual that couldn't be it. 

He eventually came to the conclusion that despite seemingly forgiving Mihawk earlier Iris simply didn't care for the swordsman at all and didn't want him near Shanks. Apparently not trusting him at all. It was a conclusion he would've stuck to if it hadn't been for Mihawk himself. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time to overhear the conversation, as Iris had briefly slipped away to refill her drink and grab some more food for both Shanks and herself.

"That's quite the interesting woman you picked up," Mihawk informed his captain as soon as said woman was out of earshot.

"My Iris is something else, a daring little spitfire with a heart of gold," Shanks bragged with a fond smile in the direction she'd disappeared in before leveling a serious look in Mihawk's direction, "Stay away from her."

"Pax red hair I have no romantic interest in your soulmate, except perhaps as a sparring partner," Mihawk informed him voice as dry as the desert.

"Well that's good then, seeing as she's mine," Shanks told him cheerfully, apparently not at all bothered by his possessive nature, which still took Benn by surprise at times, if he was honest, though it shouldn't his captain was a pirate at heart, even if he was an odd one.

"Yes I can tell," the swordsman informed him taking another sip of the wine they kept on hand just for him, well him and Iris now as well, there was something about the way he said it that piqued his interest. Obviously it caught Shanks' as well.

"What's that supposed to mean exactly?" his captain asked his voice slightly suspicious. Benn knew that while his captain considered Hawkeye a dear friend he would put his crew and his soulmate above the swordsman any day, and he was more than a little bit protective of Iris, not that he could blame him. Benn had the feeling if and when he ever found his soulmate he would be the same way. Yasopp certainly was.

"It means she clearly sees herself as yours as much as she sees you as hers," Mihawk answered flatly, "Or did you not see her try to put a dagger through my eye earlier for hurting your feelings when I refused to spar with you and threatening to kill me afterwards."

Shanks started, and Benn nearly choked on his cigarette in surprise. Of all her motives for challenging the Greatest Swordsman in the World without batting an eye that one hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Is that what that was all about?" Shanks asked his voice oddly subdued, "And here I thought you'd managed to offend her with just your presence alone."

"The woman is obviously head-over-heels for you," Mihawk informed his captain calmly, "It's why she's hovering over you now. She wants to help you but doesn't want to hurt your pride either, like I said she's interesting."

"I hadn't realized," Shanks admitted eyes shifting once more to the direction his soulmate had disappeared.

"Obviously," Mihawk pointed out drolly.

Actually Shanks wasn't the only one who hadn't noticed. Benn hadn't either which was kind of surprising. He liked to think he was the observant type and fairly good at reading others. He'd known for a while now that the soulmate pair was extremely physically attracted to one another, and that they liked each other a lot, he just hadn't realized that it had progressed to something more than affection.

As Iris reappeared in the crowd of party goers with a stack of plates, and a glass for each of them he watched, wondering what it was Mihawk had seen with those famed eyes of his that he hadn't. The minute she was within reach Shanks reached up carefully relieving her of her burden before pulling her into his lap, startling a laugh out of the emerald eyed woman who cheerfully kissed his cheek and wrapped one of her arms around his neck, balancing herself there easily.

Looking closer he realized that not only had Iris refilled one of the glasses with Shanks' favorite sake, the stuff from his home island that he stored for special occasions, she'd also brought all of his favorite foods on the plates she'd fetched, including only a couple of things that he knew she enjoyed. 

As they ate and laughed he realized that Iris was moving seemingly without thought to accomodate Shanks' missing arm, always leaving the appendage free if he needed or wanted it, and subtly shifting both herself and the objects around them so everything was always within easy reach.

However it was in the way she looked at him that really gave things away. It was only in the brief moments, Shanks would be doing something, either telling stories, laughing, or gesticulating wildly while arguing with Hawkeye about something or another, and she'd look at him and her whole face would soften, affection, wonder, and love all but written out over her face. It was obvious now that he was looking for it, but he could see why he hadn't noticed until now, it was a pretty subtle thing.

Now that he _was_ looking though, he noticed something else. When she wasn't looking at him Shanks was looking at her, constantly checking on her, slipping her pieces of food, and occasionally pressing his face and lips to her hair. His affectionate gestures were just as subtle as hers, more so in that with his flamboyant personality they were easily overlooked.

"Well I'll be damned," Benn muttered to himself, waving off the concerned looks his words had garnered from nearby crew members. Mihawk was right. Iris was in love with Shanks.

Even more surprising? Shanks was head over heels for her too, and it hadn't even been half a year. Considering how distrusting and secretive both of them could be it was more than a bit surprising. He knew neither one of them were the type to love lightly.

Oh he figured it was bound to happen, what with them being soulmates, just not quite as quickly as it had. However it seemed neither of them knew about the others feelings, at least not yet. He could feel a headache rising behind his temples as he began to realize just what that might mean. Heaving a sigh he massaged his temples and wondered if he should find Doc now and warn him to stock up on headache cures in advance.

He could see the months ahead were bound to be interesting. Damn. He was going to need more cigarettes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who left kudos or commented, comments make my day and help feed the muse lol. If you've got any questions feel free to ask over on tumblr. I hadn't realized but my ask box was closed (whoops!) so if you tried and couldn't I'm sorry!!! It's open now though, so feel free :)


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